


The Things We Don't Know

by CrypticallySmutty



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Bottom Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty), M/M, Top Morty Smith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26431012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticallySmutty/pseuds/CrypticallySmutty
Summary: Rick C--- isn’t really like other Ricks. Or at least he’s pretty sure that he’s not. He’s really only ever meet two different Ricks.He lands back on Earth after finally finishing Operation Phoenix aka he’s no longer an old man. While procrastinating searching up and reconnecting with his daughter, he meets Morty  Smith, a college student living in the same apartment building as Rick. After around half a year they start to date.BUt then things kind of change when he meets Morty's family over the winter holidays.
Relationships: Rick Sanchez/Morty Smith
Comments: 21
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There aren't many bottom Rick stories so I felt like I had to write something. And then this thought came over me. The next part is probably going to be uploaded sometime in November as I'm going to be doing Kinktober which means I won't have time to edit this story. I have the whole thing written, it just needs to be edited. So enjoy the start of this I guess.

“Fuck yes!” He shouted to himself, getting up from the floor after he had broken out of the giant test tube. He was, of course, all alone so there was no one to hear his scream of triumph as he  quickly finished up. Would have been nice to have someone congratulate him but it looked like he would have to do that all by himself.  He  quickly destroyed almost everything  just in case someone came along and tried to steal all his work . Although he did keep his original body  just in case  all of this didn’t work as planned. Worst case scenario he could use this old body  temporarily .

He looked over  all of the destroyed work in front of him, before nodding once to himself before heading over to his ship, carrying his old body with him .

As he sat by himself in his ship, he stopped for a moment. He thought about going back to Earth,  maybe go and find Beth. He didn’t  really know where the hell to start on Earth. As far as he knew she was still in the same old town that he had left her and Diane in but he didn’t know. He could always go and find that Citadel that he’d heard about.  He didn’t  really talk to the other versions of himself but the few times that he had, they had always mentioned the Citadel of Ricks but he hadn’t  really gone out of his way to look for it .

But he could go out and finally find out where the hell they were and ask one of them where she was. From what he had heard from them, they had all found their own Beth's, so he could ask and get a hint as too where she could be. He even knew a few things about her.

He hated himself enough that he didn’t  really feel like meeting more of himself  just to ask where his daughter is. So instead, he figured he’d  just go to Earth and then  just kind of procrastinate. He’ll  eventually meet up with her but at the moment he was  just going to not. It was much easier that way.

So he started up the ship heading back to his own Earth for the first time in years. He’d be able to try out his new body on his own planet. It would also be a time that he could go somewhere he wasn’t going to  be recognized by as many people.

Although most of the people he would have  been recognized by on Earth were dead now.

He landed in the forest outside of some big city, figuring it was the best place to be. He was pretty sure that Beth wouldn’t be in a big city as it didn’t seem like her thing. But he was pretty sure that she didn’t move halfway across the country. Again, only as far as he knew. The last time he had seen her she was pretty young.

So he  quickly got out pressing a button on the ship to condense it, tucking it away into his lab coat. He then headed into the city to find somewhere he could  possibly touch base.

“You must be the new guy.” Some guy asked as he walked into the apartment that he figured he could last in for a while.

“Oh, yeah,” Rick said, not having expected anyone to talk to him.

“Cool, I live a few doors down, I  just got back from work.” The guy said motioning down the hall.

“Okay,” Rick said, his hand still on the door.  He didn’t know if he should take his hand off to make sure that it felt like he was actually involved in this conversation .

“I should get going. I’ll see you around.” The guy said walking down the hall towards his own apartment.

It wasn’t until he was in his own apartment that he realized that he’d never gotten the other guys name. 

He brushed it off at the time, figuring that it wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn’t like he was going to be seeing him around after that.

But of course, because of his luck, he kept running into the guy.

They didn’t  really talk much other than a few words now and then when they were both in the elevator together.

It was even worse when the other  apparently knew his name.

“I overheard you talking with some friend that you had over and he called you Rick.” The other said shrugging. Rick mentally screamed.  He figured that this could be a great opportunity for him to ask the other for his name but he was stubborn enough that his pride wouldn’t let him ask the other guy for his name .

The other had  probably overheard when Birdperson had come over recently from his own planet wondering about him .  It kind of surprising to Rick that the other guy had most likely seen a literal humanized bird and didn’t even question it . But he shrugged it off as it wasn’t his problem. He  really hoped that they would never meet again and it wouldn’t matter that he didn’t know the other's name.

But as it had seemed was a pattern in his life at this point, they meet up several times after this. Still  just brief meetings but now it was now even worse on Rick’s side.  He was trying his best to find some way to figure out the other's name but there seemed to be no way that he could find out this guy's name . It had been awhile at this point, a few months and he still didn’t know his name.

Eventually though, he finally found out the mystery man’s name. After one of there meeting he was  just liking down at the ground  briefly when something caught his eye.

The man had dropped his wallet. At this point the other was already in his own apartment, so Rick stood there staring at the ground. He thought it through for a few moments before making a very quick decision, picking up the wallet. He  quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching before opening the wallet looking for some sort of id.

Morty Smith, he read once he found a driver's license.  He then  quickly put said driver's license back into the wallet before heading over to give the wallet back to its owner .

He knocked on the other's door, waiting for the other to answer. He kind of played with the wallet moving it between his two hands as he waited for the door to open. He was about to  just walk away back down the hall before the door opened.

The guy, who Rick could now attach a name to the face, was looking  extremely anxious. He was  clearly worried about something. Rick, assuming it was the lost wallet in his hand, held it out to the other.

“You uh, dropped this,” Rick said,  suddenly super nervous for some reason.  Probably the fact that he definitely looked like the kind of person who would have stolen the wallet instead of giving it back . He didn’t  really look like a Samaritan.

But regardless the other breathed out, very  clearly relieved.

“Thank god. I thought it got stolen on my way home.” Morty said, taking the wallet out of Rick's hands.

“I found it on the floor as I was going to open my door,” Rick said, lying  slightly . He wanted to make it seem like he didn’t look in the other's wallet.  He’d  just go ahead and drop the other's name into a conversation a few days from now, making it seem like he didn’t steal the other's wallet  just to find out his name or something like that . 

“Thank you so much,” Morty said. The two then stood there for a moment, neither  really knowing what to say now.

“I should get going,” Rick said, motioning down the hall. Morty nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll see you around?” Morty questioned to which Rick nodded. He had resolved himself to the fact that they couldn’t  just avoid each other.

Part of him wanted to  just blame fate or something like that. But he didn’t believe in fate.  That was for people who weren't smart enough and needed to pretend like it wasn’t them controlling their own lives . Lie to themselves that it isn’t  just them making bad choices but someone else making bad choices for them. They needed to blame their bad actions on someone who wasn’t themselves.

But it seemed like he couldn’t get away from the other. Even when he was in his own apartment working on some project, Morty Smith would come into his mind. It seemed like no matter what he did he  just couldn’t get the damn, most likely, teenager out of his mind.

He had never actually asked him what his name was but it was very clear that he was still in college as Rick would pass him in the hallway and he would be studying or have some textbook in his hand . So it was clear that he was most likely around 19-20.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished with Kinktober kind of. I didn't actually complete all of the days but that just told me that I was not fit for it. So I won't be doing it in the same way next year. But that just means that I'll be posting this one once again. I'm hoping to post a chapter a week but who knows honestly. I'm also doing Nano this year so I don't know if I'll really remember to post again this month. But I'm going to try.

It was a huge distraction. Currently, he should be working on anything but, instead, he was waiting a while away from the complex, waiting for Morty to come back from school so that he could pretend like he had just been out and they happened to run into each other.

  
So instead of being inside where he should be, he had gone grocery shopping earlier than he needed to just so that he could run into someone who was definitely younger than him by quite a few years. Sure he didn’t look like he was actually 70 something but that didn’t change the fact that he was.

  
He waited for a bit after he saw Morty walking down the street to make sure that it didn’t seem like he was waiting for the other to come back simply so that he could run into him.

  
“You going up?” Morty asked as the two stood in front of the elevators.

“Yep,” Rick said. The two then stood in front of the elevators waiting for the elevators to come down. There wasn’t much that they could really say. It’s not like they talked outside of the few times that they ran into each other.

As far as Rick knew they didn’t even have anything in common but he couldn’t help but be drawn to the other for some reason. It was a weird feeling.

He didn’t believe in soul mates or any of that bullshit. There was no way that everyone had someone that was made for them. He didn’t believe in God and it was ridiculous to believe that evolution made it so that you were made to be with someone.

Why would that even be a good idea? What would be the survival tactic that would make it so that soulmates was something essential?

But he still couldn’t help but feel like he and Morty had already known each other.

Like for some reason they had known each other before Morty had talked to him, that first time.

He of course had no idea if Morty felt the same. As far as he knew Morty hated him and didn’t want to talk to him again and he was dreading every moment that he had to talk to Rick. It didn’t seem like he was avoiding him or anything but Rick was a well-known pessimist.

He always saw the bad side of it. He had been criticized for it of course. Almost everyone had told him at one point or another that he should get a better perspective of life.

It was the subject of the last fight that he and Diane had had before he had left.

As far as he’d heard she’d died a few years after Beth had gotten married. He couldn’t go back for the funeral. He just couldn’t bring himself to go. He did pay a visit a few months after it all to her grave.

He knew that he wouldn’t have been able to look at Beth in the eyes and have to tell her the reason that he had left her and her mother all by themselves. He couldn’t tell her that he was just bored with the life that he had had. He figured that she blamed herself for what he gathered from most of the people with divorced parents.

He just couldn’t have done it.

So he just didn’t go. That meant that he didn’t know anything about his daughter's life. He would eventually find her. Eventually.

“Any plans for the weekend?” Morty asked as they rode the elevator together, making small talk.

“Not really. I’m working on some projects but it’s not important or anything.” Rick said shrugging, purposefully vague. He didn’t want him to ask for details, “What about you?”

“I’ve got some homework to do but not much else,” Morty asked.

A silence came over the two once more. Rick was kind of curious why the other was asking him, wondering what he was getting at. There must have been a reason.

He got his answer when Morty asked, “If you’ve got nothing to do this weekend I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place at one point?”

It was clear that Morty was trying to put up a confident facade. But Rick could clearly see through it. It had been kind of obvious to him that Morty was a rather awkward person from the previous conversations. As a rather confident person, it was interesting to see what Morty thought a confident person acted like.

Rick couldn’t help himself as he laughed. He watched as Morty’s face went completely red and he felt a little bad as he stopped laughing for a bit.  
Before the other could say anything else, Rick said, “Sorry, it’s just that you look so awkward acting so confident.”

“You didn’t have to laugh though,” Morty said, looking down at the ground all of the confidence seemingly leaving him.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help it.” Rick said more silence falling over them, although it was now more awkward. “Sure.”

Morty looked over, raising an eyebrow, “What?”

“Sure, I’ll go over to yours,” Rick said, not being able to look at the other. He hadn’t had to go through all of this bullshit since Diane. Most of the relationships that he’d been in since he's now dead wife were more sex focused. But it was kind to clear that Morty was a virgin.

“Cool. Here let me just.” Morty said, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he reached into his pocket, bringing out a pen. He then grabbed Rick's hand before writing something down. “You can text me later so that we can set stuff up.”  
Then the door elevator opened and Morty rushed out, clearly glad for the way out of the conversation. Rick was kind of stunned, looking down at his hand where Morty’s sloppy handwriting was. He then rushed out for the elevator before it could close heading to his own apartment.

He groaned as he collapsed onto his bed. He hadn’t gotten a damn phone yet which meant that he’d have to rush out soon here just so that he could get a damn phone so that he could talk to Morty.

This was probably the biggest thing he’d done for a crush. At least he had quite a bit of money from his whole The Flesh Curtains thing. Even having to split all of the money three ways he still had quite a bit of money coming in every month.

He got up eventually going over and finally buying a damn phone. He’d been meaning to buy one for a while now as it seemed like something that he’d actually need. But of course, now he was getting it simply because of the fact that he would rather buy an entire phone than admit the fact that he just didn’t have one.

He was stubborn. He could admit it. But was he going to change that fact? Absolutely not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot to post the chapter for this week but here it is. My parents are finally back for good which means a lot of my stress is gone. Here we are at the last chapter that I had pre edited which means that I have to get started editing the next one I guess

It was a huge distraction. Currently, he should be working on anything but, instead, he was waiting a while away from the complex, waiting for Morty to come back from school so that he could pretend like he had just been out and they happened to run into each other.

  
So instead of being inside where he should be, he had gone grocery shopping earlier then he needed to just so that he could run into someone who was definitely younger than him by quite a few years. Sure he didn’t look like he was actually 70 something but that didn’t change the fact that he was.

He waited for a bit after he saw Morty walking down the street to make sure that it didn’t seem like he was waiting for the other to come back simply so that he could run into him.

“You going up?” Morty asked as the two stood in front of the elevators.

“Yep,” Rick said. The two then stood in front of the elevators waiting for the elevators to come down. There wasn’t much that they could really say. It’s not like they talked outside of the few times that they ran into each other.

As far as Rick knew they didn’t even have anything in common but he couldn’t help but be drawn to the other for some reason. It was a weird feeling.

He didn’t believe in soul mates or any of that bullshit. There was no way that everyone had someone that was made for them. He didn’t believe in God and it was ridiculous to believe that evolution made it so that you were made to be with someone.

Why would that even be a good idea? What would be the survival tactic that would make it so that soulmates was something essential?

But he still couldn’t help but feel like he and Morty had already known each other. Like for some reason, they had known each other before Morty had talked to him, that first time.

He of course had no idea if Morty felt the same. As far as he knew Morty hated him and didn’t want to talk to him again and he was dreading every moment that he had to talk to Rick. It didn’t seem like he was avoiding him or anything but Rick was a well-known pessimist.

He always saw the bad side of it. He had been criticized for it of course. Almost everyone had told him at one point or another that he should get a better perspective of life.  
It was the subject of the last fight that he and Diane had had before he had left.

As far as he’d heard she’d died a few years after Beth had gotten married. He couldn’t go back for the funeral. He just couldn’t bring himself to go. He did pay a visit a few months after it all to her grave.

He knew that he wouldn’t have been able to look at Beth in the eyes and have to tell her the reason that he had left her and her mother all by themselves. He couldn’t tell her that he was just bored with the life that he had had. He figured that she blamed herself for what he gathered from most of the people with divorced parents.

He just couldn’t have done it.

So he just didn’t go. That meant that he didn’t know anything about his daughter's life. He would eventually find her. Eventually.

“Any plans for the weekend?” Morty asked as they rode the elevator together, making small talk.

“Not really. I’m working on some projects but it’s not important or anything.” Rick said shrugging, purposefully vague. He didn’t want him to ask for details, “What about you?”

“I’ve got some homework to do but not much else,” Morty asked.

A silence came over the two once more. Rick was kind of curious why the other was asking him, wondering what he was getting at. There must have been a reason.

He got his answer when Morty asked, “If you’ve got nothing to do this weekend I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place at one point?”

It was clear that Morty was trying to put up a confident facade. But Rick could clearly see through it. It had been kind of obvious to him that Morty was a rather awkward person from the previous conversations. As a rather confident person, it was interesting to see what Morty thought a confident person acted like.

Rick couldn’t help himself as he laughed. He watched as Morty’s face went completely red and he felt a little bad as he stopped laughing for a bit.

Before the other could say anything else, Rick said, “Sorry, it’s just that you look so awkward acting so confident.”

“You didn’t have to laugh though,” Morty said, looking down at the ground all of the confidence seemingly leaving him.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help it.” Rick said more silence falling over them, although it was now more awkward. “Sure.”

Morty looked over, raising an eyebrow, “What?”

“Sure, I’ll go over to yours,” Rick said, not being able to look at the other. He hadn’t had to go through all of this bullshit since Diane. Most of the relationships that he’d been in since his now-dead wife was more sex focused. But it was kind to clear that Morty was a virgin.

“Cool. Here let me just.” Morty said, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he reached into his pocket, bringing out a pen. He then grabbed Rick's hand before writing something down. “You can text me later so that we can set stuff up.”

Then the door elevator opened and Morty rushed out, clearly glad for the way out of the conversation. Rick was kind of stunned, looking down at his hand where Morty’s sloppy handwriting was. He then rushed out for the elevator before it could close heading to his own apartment.

He groaned as he collapsed onto his bed. He hadn’t gotten a damn phone yet which meant that he’d have to rush out soon here just so that he could get a damn phone so that he could talk to Morty.

This was probably the biggest thing he’d done for a crush. At least he had quite a bit of money from his whole The Flesh Curtains thing. Even having to split all of the money three ways he still had quite a bit of money coming in every month.

He got up eventually going over and finally buying a damn phone. He’d been meaning to buy one for a while know as it seemed like something that he’d actually need. But of course, now he was getting it simply because of the fact that he would rather buy an entire phone than admit the fact that he just didn’t have one.

He was stubborn. He could admit it. But was he going to change that fact? Absolutely not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to editing this. I hate editing so much. I wish it would just edit itself. But hey I think it came out good in the end.

The two meet in the middle of the hallway before heading outside wandering around town talking about nothing . 

Eventually , they walked into a gas station, grabbing some shitty food before sitting out on the curb around the corner . Morty finished first getting up to throw his own trash away. Rick watched him walk away before looking forward once Morty started to walk back. 

Morty then pulled a pack of cigarettes holding them out to him. 

“Want one?” He asked to which Rick shook his head. 

"Not my drug of choice," Rick said to which Morty shrugged before taking one out and lighting it. He sat back down as he brought it so his mouth. 

“I wouldn’t have taken you for someone who smokes,” Rick said smirking. Morty shrugged, blowing out smoke. 

“It kind of runs in the family. The only one in my family who isn’t some sort of addict is my dad.” Morty said, leaning back on his hands. Rick raised an eyebrow, thinking about how this was the first time Morty talked about his family. 

Although they hadn’t been talking for that long other than small conversations. This definitely didn’t seem like a conversation you would have in an elevator. So he shouldn't be all that surprised. 

“ Really ?” Rick asked, not wanting to  directly ask for more information. 

“Yeah. My sister has done a shit ton of drugs, much harder than I would ever do. My mom is an alcoholic which she more of got from her mom who developed an addiction when my grandfather left. And then my grandfather was  apparently some sort of alcoholic and drug addict.” Morty said, taking another drag from his cigarette. 

“I’m still currently trying to get over my alcoholism,” Rick said. Morty looked over at him raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m not doing that well.” 

“Eh. It’s a process.” Morty said shrugging and taking another drag. “I should have given these death sticks up before I even had my first one in high school.” They then sat in silence as Rick finished his own food and Morty finished his cigarette. 

Morty tossed it onto the ground, stomping out the flame with his foot. The two then sat in silence for a while before Rick broke it, not being able to take it anymore. 

“Why’d you start?” Rick asked motioning to the now out cigarette. Morty shrugged. 

“Don’t  really know.  Probably my parent's divorce.” Morty shrugged leaning back on his hands staring up at the sky. “That was around the time I started.” 

“How old were you when that happened?” Rick asked, leaning on his elbows which were on his knees. 

“Around fifteen?” Morty said having to think about it for a moment. 

“Jesus. That young?” Rick said, turning to the other. Morty laughed  lightly . “How did you even get ahold of them?” 

“My sister. She was eighteen at the time and she did much worse drugs and didn’t mind providing me with simple cancer sticks.” Morty said shrugging, “She couldn’t give less of a shit.” 

“You could always sue her if you get cancer,” Rick said shrugging to which Morty burst into laughter. 

“I would but as she’s going into law I’m pretty sure she would fuck me over so hard. I don't have enough money to get a good enough lawyer,” Morty said. He then looked down at his phone before getting up. “I should head back to studying. I do have school tomorrow.” 

“Damn,” Rick said getting up as well.  The two then walked back together in complete silence, neither knowing what else to say after such a conversation . Rick was only glad that it was  fully about Morty and wasn’t focused on him. 

he didn't want to talk about the fact that he had a kid somewhere who was now an adult. Or of course, the fact that while he may look in his 20s, he very much isn't. 

The two then stood in front of Rick's door which was closer to the elevators, neither  really knowing what to do.  Rick was always someone who didn't shy away from fucking on the first date, even if this wasn’t their first date nor was it ever said to be a date . But this relationship seemed different. 

It had nothing to do with anything like him thinking that this might be more serious or anything. In some of his longest relationships, he and his partner fucked in the first hand full of dates. 

But Morty looked like he was different than his other relationships in the past. Rick was pretty convinced that Morty was a virgin and didn’t seem to have much experience. 

They stood there in silence for a few moments before Rick opened his mouth to say something. He couldn’t get anything out in the end as Morty surged forward, kissing him.

“I gotta go.” Morty then said almost running off to his own apartment. Rick stood in front of his door for a moment, surprised as he heard the slam of Morty’s door. 

He then walked into his own apartment, collapsing against the door. He stared into space for a bit, having no idea what the hell  just happened.

‘Sorry about that’ Morty texted him around an hour later while Rick was still slumped against the door. 

‘its fine  just surprised me a little’

Morty then went silent for a while and Rick got worried. The other had  clearly seen his text but he didn’t text back. That meant that Rick stayed up hours into the night wondering what the hell he had said. 

So he distracted himself with work as he did every time. 

He woke up the next morning at his desk with his phone buzzing for a moment before the screen went dark once more. He groaned, picking his head up and picking up the damn thing. He was kind of regretting buying this thing. It was too damn loud and he had no idea how to turn the volume of notifications down. 

‘Sorry it took me so long to respond. I stayed up real late working on homework.”  Morty had texted him a bit ago but his phone liked to continue to tell him that he had a text a while after it had  been sent to him . 

‘Don't mind’ Rick said then  sleepily going over and grabbing coffee, his substitute for alcohol . 

‘Want to head out for breakfast before I have to go to class?' Rick read after he came back to his desk after grabbing his coffee.  He  quickly texted the other telling him that he was good with that before heading to take a shower, drowning his cup of coffee . 

He  quickly got dressed, hearing a knock on the door. 

“Shit shit shit.”  He repeated to himself, quiet enough so that Morty couldn’t hear him from outside the door as he was jumping into his pants . He  really needed to get looser pants. but all the pants that he had were from when he was actually in his twenties, in the middle of The Flesh Curtains. 

He paused for a moment before opening the door, catching his breath. 

“Hey.” He said, leaning against the door. Morty smiled at him, waving  awkwardly . 

“Hey.” Morty said back. “Ready to go?” 

“Yep.”  Rick asked,  quickly grabbing his wallet and keys which were by the door unlike his phone which was near him at all times in case Morty texted . He had debated  just leaving it but he brought it with him. He didn’t have much on it but  just in case. 

The two of them walked somewhere. Rick had no idea where the hell they were going. He assumed they were going somewhere near the college but he didn’t  really go in that direction. He didn’t go to many places other than to get food and now to go out with Morty. 

That of course meant that whenever he went anywhere that was far away from his normal places he was immediately lost . He couldn’t let the other know that he didn’t know where the hell they were going so he acted like he  fully knew. But as far as he knew Morty had been a murderer the whole time and was preparing to murder him. 

Rick doubted that as Morty didn’t seem like the type with enough confidence to murder anyone. He got super nervous  just after kissing him, Rick didn’t think the other would have the guts to murder him. And if he did he was a good actor at least. 

Eventually , the two did actually get to aq Starbucks which  just confirmed to Rick that Morty wasn’t going to kill him and that he was in the clear . For now at least. He did have plenty of enemies that could find him at any time and kill him where he stood. 

The two ordered food and sat down both being okay with being silent. So they sat in silence,  just enjoying each others company as they  normally did. 

Eventually Morty had to go to class leaving to head to the college which was  really close to the Starbucks. Rick hadn’t even realized how close they were until Morty was walking over to the college. 

After that they continued to talk and go out a few times but it was never  really a date. Or at least neither of them called them dates which confused Rick to no end. 

Most of the relationships that he had been in before this were clear that they were an actual relationship .  Mostly because he didn’t go on that many dates and  just fucked most of the time. 

This was  really his first time in a while with a relationship that he didn’t even know if it was one. Not since high school. 

“I’m going to be going back home for a month or so.” Morty said one day that they were hanging out. Rick raised an eyebrow, taking a sip from his drink. 

“Any reason?” Rick asked, setting his cup down. 

“ Just to visit with my mom. She’s all on her own since her and my dad's divorce and both me and my sister moved away.” Morty said shrugging, “It’s summer and so I’ve got time on my hands.” 

Rick nodded, “Understandable.”

“I and Summer go back in summer and during Christmas time.  Summer because we both have off school and Christmas because it’s the only time that both my Mom and Dad are together for a few weeks .” Morty said shrugging. 

Rick raised an eyebrow again. “That seems like a disaster waiting to happen.” 

“Oh every Christmas is my parents screaming at each other for a few weeks while me and my sister try to hold it all together,” Morty said . 

“So then why do you two go back?” Rick asked super confused. 

“We’re both pretty sure that if we don’t go back my dad might kill himself.” Morty said rolling his eyes, “And I’m pretty sure he’d do it to spit us.” 

“He sounds like an ass,” Rick said cringing. 

“Yeah. It’s why he and my mom divorced.” Morty said shrugging. 

“So how long are you going to be gone?” Rick asked, changing the subject. 

“Don’t  really know. I’m usually there for the entire summer but you never know. Might be there for a month.” Morty said, “I’m kind of playing it by ear for now.” 

They were silent for a moment, neither knowing what else to say. Rick was kind of confused. He didn’t know what to make of the fact that Morty was telling him that he was leaving. 

“ I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me before I go,” Morty said, his voice fast. Rick  was surprised . He  really thought that it would be him who would make the first move. He was super surprised at how all this turned out. 

He took too long to answer as Morty looked to be nervous, opening his mouth. Most likely to say that it was okay that he didn’t want to or something like that. 

“I’d love to,” Rick said  quickly before Morty could say anything else. Morty  instantly perked up, smiling at him. 

“Great, I’ll text you details later,” Morty said looking down at his watch. “I’ve got to get going to class.” Morty then picked up his bag and headed off with a wave behind him. 

Rick waited for a moment watching as the other walked down to the college which was near the star bucks that the two now went to at least once a week before Morty had to go to class . 

Rick then picked up his own stuff heading to his apartment. He had now picked up on the route from the college to his apartment something that had taken him a while to get the hang of. 

He had no idea what else to do. He had a feeling that when Morty left he’d no longer want to talk to him which scared Rick for some reason. He couldn’t help but compare his new what was coming into a relationship to his past ones. He couldn’t help it. 

He’d never truly been scared to leave someone. Not even Diane. When you looked into it made sense as he did actually leave her. 

But Diane was his longest and biggest relationship. The fact that this new one was different was odd. 

Rick mentally slapped himself. Not actually though as he was in public and that would have made everyone around think he was crazy. But he needed to stop thinking. It was hard to do for him as he  really liked to over analyze everything. He then had to redirect his thinking to science, thinking about his current project. 

He mainly just fucked around doing science while waiting for the day of his and Morty’s first actual date. They had been talking for a while and just now going on a date. It was the slowest relationship that he’d had yet. 

Knowing Morty, it would most likely be even slower as his relationship with Diane started with the two fucking at prom . 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So all I really have to say is the fact that any time that I put that Rick rolled his eyes, spell check wants me to write rickrolled. But I don't have much else to say. SO enjoy the chapter. 
> 
> Also this one does have a sex scene so if that isn't your thing then I don't really know why you clicked here because of the rating.

Rick was overthinking up until he heard his doorbell the next week. Before that, he hadn’t left his apartment; too busy with his projects and trying to get his mind off of the date.

He waited in front of the door, opening it before Morty would have felt the need to ring once more. But he did try his best not to seem too desperate.

“Hey,” Morty said smiling. Morty had told the other to dress casual as he wouldn’t tell Rick where they were going. The only reason that he told Rick dress is so that he did wear a suit to where ever the fuck they were going. Rick hated surprises.

Clearly  , Morty had taken his own advice as he was wearing his normal yellow short-sleeved shirt and jeans . The only difference was the jacket that Rick was pretty sure he’d never seen before. Nights were pretty cold year-round where Rick had taken up in New York, even in summer. He almost only talked to Morty during the day.

“Hey,” Rick said, putting on his jacket that he had grabbed before opening the door. “So are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

Morty laughed as they walked down to the elevator together. “Of course not. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I did.” 

"I hate surprises,” Rick said, feeling the need to voice all his opinions.

“Somehow I’m not surprised,” Morty said, laughing  lightly  while smirking at the other. Rick rolled his eyes. 

They then walked in silence going to where ever the hell it was that Morty had planned to take Rick. Rick fiddled with the stuff that happened to be in his pockets as they walked, finding that he was nervous. Not something that happened much. 

They talked only  briefly  as they walked. Rick looked down at his watch realizing that half an hour had passed since they had started to walk. Now Rick was more curious. He looked around not recognizing anything around them. 

Just  as he was about to ask where the hell they were going Morty stopped. “We’re here.” He said looking over at Rick, most likely to gauge his reaction. 

“Looks nice,” Rick said shrugging. The place looked a little run-down but Rick wasn’t going to tell Morty that the place looked like shit. He wasn’t that terrible.

Morty walked in as he said, “This was the first place that I ate when I came to New York. I know that you’ve been here for a while but still. I figured that it was a good place to go for a first date. Plus it's  just  a good place to go and eat."

Rick shrugged, following the other in. As long as the food didn’t poison him, he was fine with it. He’d tried worse than some random human food that he hadn’t tried before. 

“I’m willing to try new things,” Rick said, following the other to the counter. He tried not to see the dirty joke but he couldn't help it. Though he  just  kept it to himself. Morty ordered for both of them saying that he knew what was good. Rick, who had  clearly  never gone here,  just  let him. He then followed the other to a table which Morty told him was his normal table. 

"You never actually told me what you're studying?” Rick said in a questioning voice, after a few moments

“I’m studying psychotherapy. I never actually went to therapy as a kid but I  really  should have. I want to make sure that no kid has to go through the same.” Morty said shrugging. 

Internally  , Rick laughed. He didn’t  really  believe in therapy. But he didn’t  really  want to ruin this by  just  laughing at the other. 

“That sounds like a good reason to go into something,” Rick said, avoiding the fact that he disagreed with most of the soft sciences  . He didn’t feel like having that fight. They got along well enough and he didn’t  really  want to argue about it. 

“Yeah. I always feel pretty pretentious saying that.  It always feels like a reason that someone in a movie would have said when asked by the younger character in the movie .” Morty said taking a drink.

“I can see that. But it is a good reason to go into it. Help others in the way that you wanted to be or some other  equally  as pretentious shit.” Rick said trying as hard as possible to not bring up anything.

“What in the world do you do? I don’t think you’ve ever said.” Morty said with a look of confusion. 

“Mainly  space science,” Rick said, not  really  knowing how to explain what he did without saying that he’d been up in space as well as being an old man in a younger body  . It was  really  hard to do that. 

Clearly , he didn’t do well at that as Morty looked very confused. 

“What the hell does that mean?” Morty asked, leaning forward. 

“Just  space ships and what not?” Rick said, hoping that the other would believe him. 

Yet again he was pretty sure that Morty didn’t believe him but he didn’t say anything about it, dropping it. 

“How did you get into that?”Morty asked, leaning back in his chair again.

“My parents were pretty terrible and so I wanted to getaway. What better way to get away from my shitty parents than to  literally  leave the planet?” Rick said shrugging. 

“Well then. I guess we're both getting into something based on a shitty family.” Morty said making both of them laugh  lightly . 

They continued on talking for the night but  eventually  had to head back. They walked in silence although this time, it was less awkward.

They stood in front of Rick’s door for a few moments, neither wanting to be the first to leave. Rick didn’t  just  want to open his door and leave and Morty didn’t want to  just , go. 

Rick was about to  just  go into his apartment, having no idea how else to have done it before Morty surged forward, giving Rick deja vu as the other kissed him . The only difference is that Rick kissed back, not wanting the other to run off to his own apartment once more.

The two pulled away to which Rick asked, “You want to come in?” Rick was a little out of breath when he asked, but it didn’t bother Morty as he nodded  vigorously  . Rick  quickly  unlocked his door, leading the other in. 

It was then that Rick  really  realized that this was the first time that Morty was had been in his apartment. Morty didn’t  really  look around though,  just  kissing him, pushing him against the door. Part of Rick  was surprised  at how dominant that Morty was. The other part of him figured that he should have seen this coming. 

Even if he was always stuttering, he was still the one who had initiated everything in their relationship, even asking Rick on a date  . It wasn’t like Rick had anything against it though. He was  fully  ready to give or take in any relationship. And he meant any.

He put his hands on the other's neck, although not choking him. It wasn’t until the two were this close did Rick  really  notice that that the other was a bit shorter than him. It wasn’t a huge amount of height between the two of them. But it was now noticeable when he had to lean down  slightly  to meet the other's lips.

“You’re pretty good for a virgin,” Rick said, pulling away for a chance to actually breathe. Morty scrunched his eyebrows, something he seemed to do when confused.

“What do you mean?” He asked but he didn’t move, his hands staying where they had before been at Rick’s waist. Rick rolled his eyes.

“You don’t have to pretend. I went into this knowing you were a clear cut virgin.” Rick said.

Morty stared at him for a few moments,  seemingly  trying to wrap his head around what Rick had said. When it had seemed like he had processed it, he laughed.

Rick raised an eyebrow watching as Morty’s hands left his hips, moving to cover his mouth.

“Did I miss something funny?” Rick asked, eyebrow still raised.

“I don’t know where you got the got that impression but I’m not a virgin.” Morty said after he had finished laughing, “I’ve  just  got anxiety.”

Rick was quiet, feeling like an ass.

“It’s fine. You’re not the first one to make the assumption,” Morty said, waving him off. “And I haven’t had that many girlfriends let alone boyfriends so I am  just  a little bit more nervous. And the whole anxiety thing.” Morty rambled.

“Any reason?”

“Well, I did only recently come out to myself let alone my family and, again, anxiety. I’m not the best at initiating anything with others.” Morty said, his hand now moving to rub at the back of his neck, an unconscious thing most likely.

“Well then. I will  just  say that while I know feel like a total ass, I would like to see the experience you got.” Rick said, trying to get the mood back to the room.

It seemed to work pretty well as Morty placed his hands on Rick’s ass this time, lifting him up. With a smirk, Rick threw his legs around the other's waist.

“You’re stronger than you look,” Rick said.

“I like to work out, what can I say?” He said shrugging.

“Another thing you picked up with your parent's divorce?”

“Yeah, but I don’t  really  want to talk about that before sex.” Morty said, leaning into Rick’s face, “Might be some good pillow talk though.”

“Maybe  ,” Rick said, getting tired of talking, leaning in, and taking capturing the other's mouth with his  . Morty moaned  lightly , taking Rick to where he assumed Rick’s room was. They did live in similar apartments so it wasn’t that surprising he knew where to go

Morty then  lightly  threw him onto Rick's bed, climbing on top of him. Rick smirked, grabbing the other's face once more, pulling him closer. While he may have thought that Morty was a virgin, he wasn’t disappointed yet.

Especially as Morty ground down against Rick, making Rick moan  lightly . He couldn’t be too loud. The walls were thin. Thin enough that he himself could hear when his neighbors decided to get it on.

Okay,  maybe  he would be a little louder.

Get revenge on the neighbors who were always so fucking loud.

They parted only for long enough for both of them to strip down before connecting once more.

“Have you got any lube?” Morty asked, pulling away for a second to ask. Rick nodded, grabbing it out from the top drawer of his bedside table handing it over to Morty. Morty nodded back, opening the bottle and pouring some out, getting ready to prep Rick

Rick always hated this part. He wasn’t the biggest fan of foreplay, generally  just  zoning it out, waiting to get to the good part.

Today wasn’t an exception.

Though it didn’t take Morty to realize how little Rick gave a shit about  being prepped  , lubing himself up. He placed his dick at Rick's hole before looking at Rick's face, making sure that it was alright. Rick rolled his eyes. He didn’t need to  be taken  care of. He wasn’t a pillow princess.

Most of the time of course.

Morty seemed to take that as it  was supposed  to, a sign to continue on. Morty nodded,  mostly  to himself before pushing himself in. Rick grimaced, knowing the good was yet to come. Unless Morty wasn’t as skilled at this part as the kissing making out part.

But Morty had seemed to gleam quite a bit out of that eye roll, trusting inside, bottoming out all at once.  Rick threw his head back, groaning as Morty continued with a rather rough pace, something he hadn’t Rick hadn’t expected .

Although it seemed there was quite a bit about Morty that he didn’t know. Or at least things that he had assumed before that had been true and Rick was starting to doubt it.

Not that he had ever thought he was actually that good at reading people.

He knew that he wasn’t that good at reading people but he continued to do it because why the fuck not?

He moaned, reaching down to jerk himself to the pace of Morty’s thrusts. Morty grabbed Rick's legs, bringing them up. Rick had forgotten how fucking flexible he could be, moaning.

God, though his endurance was not up to the same level as an actual 20-year-old. He had already cum a few times at this point but Morty hadn’t come once.

It was would be more impressive if Rick wasn’t ready to pass out.

It had been a long time since he had been with someone who could go for this long.  Apparently  , that’s what an actual twenty years old can handle. There is no way that this is normal though.  He had thought that he had brought his body back to normal 20-year-old conditions but  apparently  not .

Either that or he  just  hadn’t had the endurance that Morty did. Even when he was this age.

Fucking hell.

But he didn’t want to give up or anything. There was no way that he could do that to his pride. Plus he was pretty sure that Morty was almost done. Or at least he fucking hoped so.

But Morty seemed to be speeding up, almost like he was preparing to cum. Rick had forgotten to ask about a condom. He thought about it for a moment before shrugging.

“Cu-Cum inside me,” Rick said, his voice a little raspy. He hadn’t spoken much and when he had made any kind of noise is it was generally a moan or scream.  Morty looked like he was going to say something before he nodded, thrusting deep, cumming inside .

Morty collapsed next to Rick, who passed out without much more prompting.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I haven't posted in a while but I'm going to try my best to get through most of this story both edited and then posted before winter break would be. For everyone else of course.  
> But also I will say that I have made a playlist on Spotify for this story so go listen to it while reading this if you would like https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VYgZK2C0291ueKNQ4qHi4

Rick woke up the next morning, the bed next to him empty. He sighed, mentally beating himself up. He should have known the other wouldn’t stay. That was, of course, when he noticed the piece of paper next to him. 

‘Sorry for having to leave. But you seemed too peaceful to wake up and I needed to get going to classes. Last night was nice. See you after I get back.’ 

Rick groaned, collapsing back onto the bed. He had forgotten that the whole reason that Morty had asked him on the date. Because of the fact that Morty was going to be leaving. For at least 2 months. 

Eventually, he had to pick himself up going to make himself coffee which had replaced his alcohol. Now instead of having an alcohol addiction he had a caffeine addiction.

He groaned once more as he got up. He had thought that he had gotten rid of all the pesky things like it hurting to get up when he changed bodys. Then, of course, he felt like an idiot. Of course, his ass would hurt. This was the first time he’d really had sex in this body let alone bottom. He hadn’t had time before he and Morty had started talking. 

The rest of the day he spent doing anything to take his mind off of Morty. There were several times where he had caught sight of the various alcohol bottles around. He was of course very tempted to drown himself but he didn’t, instead, finally moving the bottles out of eyesight.

Hopefully moving them out of sight would help. Sure he hadn’t really gotten super drunk for a few weeks but still. Going cold turkey all by himself was a bit of a pain. 

Whenever he brought this up with Morty, he would either just suggest Rick go to AA, something he wasn’t going to do. Of course, Morty would suggest something like AA to him. He believed that talking with someone would get rid of everything. If he didn’t, that wouldn’t be what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. 

So instead he took it upon himself to do everything. He’d get over all this without all those religious nuts. 

A few hours later Rick looked around, realizing that he had cleaned his entire apartment while he was busy thinking. He looked at the time realizing that Morty would be leaving any time now. 

“Nope. I just finished packing almost everything in my car. I was getting one more thing and then I'm going to be out of here.” Morty said, his voice quick. Rick was pretty sure that the other hadn’t even taken a breath during that whole few sentences. 

“Well then. I’ll see you when you get back?” Rick asked his voice questioning, mentally slapping himself. What happened to that reputation he had to uphold? 

“Yeah. I’ll try to text you as often as I can.” Morty said pausing for a moment, “Unless you don’t want me to of course.” 

“No no, text or call as much as you’d like. I’m not going to be doing much.” Rick said, feeling more awkward than he’d like to ever, let alone now. 

“Cool,” Morty said. The two then stood there in silence for a few moments neither knowing what to say. Morty opened his mouth to say something but Rick just sighed, deciding that he was going to take the initiative. 

He had told himself that he was going to just stay away until the other was away. He didn’t want to get emotional or anything. He had a reputation to uphold. Even if Morty only knows part of that reputation. And most of the people who had that very impression of him were all the way in space or already dead in the ground.

He lifted his head from where he had collapsed onto his bed after all his cleanings when he heard the doorbell ring. He raised an eyebrow, not having expected anyone. 

He got up anyway, heading to the door. He may not have expected anyone but who knows. 

“Morty.” He said with surprise, Morty in front of him standing with his hands awkwardly in his pockets. 

“Hey. I figured that I’d say goodbye. You know, before I left.” Morty said, his voice almost questioning if he was ready to run at any moment. 

“I thought you would have already left,” Rick said, looking down at his watch, shrugging at the fact that he had clearly misinterpreted the time.

He leaned down, kissing the other. He couldn’t just rely on Morty to initiated everything. Morty smiled into the kiss. 

The two stayed like that for a few moments, neither wanting to be the one to pull away. Eventually though, Morty had to pull away. 

“I should get going. I’ve got to get all the way to Seattle.” Morty said, pointing down the hall. Rick nodded, it suddenly hitting him that he was going to genuinely miss the other. The two waved at each other as Morty walked down the hall. Rick stayed standing in his doorway until the elevator doors closed. 

He then headed inside, collapsing against the door. He sighed, bringing his hands up to his face. He rubbed at his face, getting off of the door and heading further into his apartment.

‘I can survive a month or so without Morty. I’ve survived decades without him.’ Rick thought to himself. He opened up several cabinets, trying to find something but he didn’t really know what yet. 

Then he found it. 

He sighed, taking down just a bottle of vodka. He knew that he should just put it back and walk away, maybe even get a head start on sleep. Go to sleep at an actual decent time. 

But he knew he wouldn’t do that he thought to himself as he opened up the bottle. He looked to where he knew his cups were before just shrugging and taking a gulp of the vodka.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning he woke with a groan, a very familiar feeling. He always woke up like this when he had been drinking heavy the past night. He sighed, getting up and kicking a few bottles out of the way.  Maybe what would get him to stop is when he  eventually ran out of bottles and then had to actually go to the store to get more . But he didn’t think that would be for a while. He’d have to go through a lot of bottles for that. 

He checked his phone after throwing his guts up into the toilet as he would  normally do on a fine morning like this. 

‘I  just got to my first stop.  Obviously have a few more stops before getting to my Mom’s but it’s a start right?’

Rick groaned seeing that it  was sent last night. At least he hadn’t texted Morty anything embarrassing. It was nice to not have to pick up after drunk Rick. Other than the bottles of course.

He  quickly texted Morty back before getting coffee and getting ready to sit around and do fuck all. It was kind of all he had to do. He could work on sciencey stuff but he didn’t  really know what to do. 

He didn't have to do much what with  all of the checks he got daily from his days in a band. 

So he sat around watching whatever the fuck was on the TV and texting Morty. It was a great way to spend his time. Very productive.

It took Morty quite a while to get to his Moms and since he was spending almost all his time driving the two didn’t talk much for around 3 days . 

“You should  really go too AA.” Morty said one day when they were talking. They actually talked on the phone around once a week or so.  Rick had  reluctantly told the other that he had gotten drunk the previous day as drunk Rick had decided to text Morty more gibberish . 

“I don’t think that they can  really help me.” Rick said rolling his eyes, like he did every time that Morty brought up AA.

“They help so many people what makes you think that you’re any different? Morty asked,  clearly rolling his eyes. 

“I’m not going to go to a meeting with a bunch of religious nuts,” Rick said, rolling his eyes as well. 

“Oh come on. Is that what this is about?” Morty asked, sounding annoyed. Rick didn’t dignify that with a response. “You do know that while they have something about go in their 12 steps that it’s not all about an actual literal god right?” 

“Well, then why the hell would it be in there?” Rick asked. 

Morty sighed before saying, “Look, I’m not saying that it has to be your thing but you should go to at least one meeting.” 

Rick was silent for a moment both sides of him fighting it out before sighing himself and saying, “Fine, I’ll go. But  just one meeting.

“ Just one. And if it works then you should continue to go.” Morty said his tone scolding. He sounded like Diane. Nothing like his own mother who was terrible. But Diane was good, for the few years that Rick was around to witness of course. 

“Okay okay. I’ll try it out I promise.” Rick said. 

And that was how he found himself outside of a church for the first time since his childhood. All for some guy who he meet a few months ago. Even if it was  probably something that would be good for him in the long run. 

He took a breath entering the Church. He followed the signs to wherever the hell that this meeting was. He took one last look at his phone before silencing it. 

‘Good luck!’ Morty had texted him a few moments ago. He typed back thanks before heading into the room where the meeting was.

It was exactly what he thought that AA would be like. With a table in the corner with coffee and donuts. He  just grabbed a styrofoam cup of coffee and went and sat down. 

He didn’t talk with anyone,  just wanting to sit there and watch. Then never come back. He was  just here to appease Morty and that was it. 

Eventually , someone stood up and started to speak. All the guy's words went in one ear and out the next. 

“How about some of our new people tell us who they are and why they're here?” He said something that Rick felt was important to hear. 

The room was silent for a moment before some teen rose her hand. 

“You don’t need to raise your hand.” The guy who was still standing said, waving the teen off, “ Just go ahead and tell us your name and then your story.”

“My name is Leah and I’m an alcoholic.” She said, rubbing at her arm. Everyone was silent as she continued, “My mom found out that I’d been drinking and sent me to come here.”

Everyone was silent, waiting to see if she’d say anything more. When she didn’t say anything more a few of the others started to speak up. 

Eventually , though it was  just him. He was the only new one who hadn’t gone. Or at least Rick assumed that as everyone had turned to him. 

“I’m Rick and I’m an alcoholic.” Rick decided to leave out the several other drugs that he’d done. He didn’t feel like explaining what every single space drug was. “I’ve been one for a few years now and my… boyfriend told me to come here and see if it would work. I’m  just here the once though.” 

Rick then sat down, not  really knowing what else he  was supposed to say. The guy upfront smiled at him, almost as if he knew that this  probably wasn’t going to be Ricks last time. Rick didn’t like that look.

Rick  just sat there as he listened to everyone talks about whatever their problems were. He  vaguely paid attention,  mostly drinking the very shitty coffee. It was the worst coffee he’d ever had. 

Once the hour had come to a close, the guy who had been standing at the start stood up once more saying, “Before we all go let us say a pray .” 

Rick rolled his eyes, not bothering to pay attention. He wasn’t here for the Jesus crap.  He was  just here for the fact that he was an alcoholic who had been semi-forced to go by his boyfriend who it still felt odd to call him that . 

“So how was it?” Morty asked him that night when Rick had gotten back. Morty had promised to call when it was over so they could talk.

“It was boring as hell. Then there was the fact that it all ended with a fucking prayer.” Rick said rolling his eyes. 

“Well, it does take place in a church. That’s kind of to  be expected .” Morty said. 

“Still sucked,” Rick said. 

“Are you going to go back?” Morty asked waiting as Rick was silent,  clearly not going to  just drop it. 

“I’ve got nothing better to do,” Rick said, rolling his eyes again. It was true. He didn’t  really have anything else going on in his life. The only thing that  really was, had left all the way across the country. 

“That’s great.” Morty said and Rick could tell he was  probably beaming, “I've got to go. I’ve had to sneak away from my Mom and sister and they’re going to get suspicious if I’m away too long. Mom might think I’m getting high or something.”

“See you,” Rick said listening as Morty hung up. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops I almost forgot that I was going to post this today :/. But hey I'm posting it now.   
> But also if you would like to check out a new playlist, I have made a playlist on Spotify for this story. Listen to it. Or not I guess. Not really my business. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VYgZK2C0291ueKNQ4qHi4

The time that Morty was at his mom's went rather fast. Rick, even though he said it was  just the once, continued going to AA. He had nothing better to do. So he tried it out. He also talked with his now sponsor who he didn’t see other than after and at meetings. 

Then Morty went silent. Rick didn’t get any calls or texts from the other and his brain went haywire. He worried himself sick by thinking about every reason that Morty wasn’t talking to him. Then he got onto thinking about the possibility that he was dead. It’s not like anyone would text or call him about it. Morty had told him that he wasn’t telling his parents yet that they were dating. 

His Dad was  apparently such a shitty person that Morty didn’t  really know how he would react if he knew that Morty was bi. So Morty didn’t tell his parents knowing that his mom might talk about it with his dad without realizing it. 

Which would mean that if Morty died for whatever reason he wouldn’t know until the other's apartment was being emptied . Most likely by his family. 

He  was taken out of his anxiety-fueled musings when the doorbell rang. He got up with an eyebrow raised. He hadn’t been expecting anyone and as far as he knew no one from AA knew where he lived. It wasn’t like it would be someone to check on him or anything. 

“Morty,” Rick said, feeling a bit of deja vu. This felt surprising, like when Morty was leaving. 

“Hey. Sorry for going ghost on you but I uh wanted this to be a surprise.” Morty said, smiling  awkwardly at the other. Rick rolled his eyes, seeing the fact that Morty was very  clearly anxious. 

“It’s fine,” Rick said, waving the other off. They stood there for a moment in silence before Morty spoke up again.

“You want to go somewhere? I already brought all my stuff up to my apartment.” Morty asked, motioning down the hall. 

“Sure. I shouldn’t have anything going on.”  Rick said, shrugging and grabbing his keys and phone which were near the door from the last time he left the house a few days ago . 

They walked down in silence coming upon the first place that they went. Before they had actually dated. 

They went into the gas station, grabbing the same thing they had before, giving Rick some deja vu.  The only real difference was the fact that Morty bought himself another pack of cigarettes . They then went and sat on the sidewalk at the side of said gas station.

“So how was your mom?” Rick asked, not knowing what else to talk about. They hadn’t seen each other in person in a month or so, so sue him. 

“It was fine. My dad came pretending as if he didn’t remember that I and my sister were there. We had been discussing it last year at Christmas the only time that I see both parents in the same room.” Morty said, annoyance clear in his voice. Rick raised an eyebrow. 

“You see both your parents at Christmas?” Rick asked. 

“Yeah.  For some reason, my parents have decided that while I and my sister are there, they’ll  just come together at my Mom's house . Act like a family.” Morty said using quotation marks around the last phrase. 

“Wow, that is so dumb.

“Yeah. It was easy when both of us were still living with Mom but even then it sucked.  They spend most of the time fighting,  just proving the point that they are better divorced and not in the same house .” Morty said shrugging. 

“Fuck. So how long have you been out of the house?” Rick asked, realizing that he hadn’t asked the other's age before this. 

“ Just a year. But still.” Morty said, “It’s annoying when I go back for the first time,  mainly to see my Mom. The much better half of the two and I have to see my dad. I thought that would end when I got eighteen and was no longer required to see my dad once a month.” 

The two then sat in silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say.  Clearly , Morty wanted to say something though, that much was evident. Morty wasn’t very good at keeping secrets at least not whatever it was that he wanted to tell Rick. 

“So, I told my mom about you. Not the fact that we were dating.  Just that I had met a friend. She was a little worried about me.” Morty said, his words quick. It took Rick a moment to process what it was that he was saying he had spoken so fast. 

“Cool. I don’t mind.” Rick said shrugging, “What did you tell her about me?” 

“ Just about how we meet and that was it. I didn’t feel like saying that you were an alcoholic or anything. She  probably would have made a joke about how well you’d fit in with the rest of us.” Morty said rolling his eyes, making it clear that it was a bit of a sore subject. 

“Did she at least sound like she liked me from whatever you said?” Rick asked, for some reason wanting validation from some random lady that he didn’t even know.

“Yeah. She uh, wanted me to invite you to stay with us for Christmas.” Morty said, speaking  uncharacteristically slow. Then his voice speeds up after a brief pause, “Only if you want of course. I don’t know if you’d have anyone else that you-”

“I’m fine with it. My family died off a few years ago so it’s not like I would have anyone that I would rather be with now.” Rick said interrupting the other. He was kind of lying. 

Sure his parents had died along with Diane but he didn’t  really know about Beth or her husband. He knew that Morty’s family was in Seattle which is the last place that he knew Diane was. She had lived in the house that she had gotten from her family which was where they had started to raise Beth.  Maybe while there with Morty he would look her up and visit.

Although Rick had a feeling that that wasn’t going to happen. 

“Cool.  Obviously , that’s so far away but when I mentioned you my Mom was so eager to meet you. I’ve always had trouble making friends.” Morty said, looking at the ground. 

Rick shrugged, leaning back on his hands. “You should be glad that my parents are dead so you don’t have to meet them. While your family seems dysfunctional, you can at least be around them.” 

“You don’t talk much about your family,” Morty said, leaving a clear opening for Rick to say more. To spill his tragic backstory to him. Other than the wife and child of course. As far as he knew, Morty was still in the dark about that. 

“There's not much to say. They were shitty people and then I left.” Rick said shrugging. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel comfortable saying more than that, it was that there wasn’t much else to say.

Morty was quiet for a moment, searching Rick’s face for something but Rick knew that he wasn’t going to find anything. He kept his face blank, not giving anything away even if there was nothing to say. 

Morty, fine with whatever it was that he found in the other's face, turning back to where he had been looking. Rick looked at the other from the corner of his eyes, not wanting the other to know that he was watching him. 

He watched as Morty took one of the cigarettes from the new pack that he had bought, bringing out a plain pink lighter. The lighter had clearly been used for years. 

He watched as Morty lit the cigarette, bringing it up to his mouth. 

He watched as Morty took a drag from the cigarette, holding the smoke in his mouth for a moment before exhaling it. 

“We should  probably head back. I need to do more studying.” Morty said with a sigh. He stood up and stomped out the cigarette under his shoe.

Rick got up, easily catching up with him. They walked in silence, neither feeling like they had something to say. 


	9. Chapter 9

“So tell me all that I need to know about your parents before I come over for Christmas.” Rick said. They were still a few weeks out from having to take the several day drive over to Morty’s but the time was going fast. 

Since Morty had come back from visiting his mom over summer break, the two took a few weeks making up for lost time. Which  basically meant that they fucked like bunny rabbits. 

Which meant that they were both a bit  sexually frustrated. 

But that all had come to a halt when Morty went back to school. It was rather difficult because of the fact that college seemed to be a lot of work. He had been too smart for college so he never got that feeling.

Now they tried to get together once a week at least. Even if it was  just for a few minutes between Morty’s studying. 

“Well, there isn’t much to know. Most of it I’m numb to so it's a little hard to tell you much about them. I’ve lived with my Mom and sister for most of my life until I moved out and my sister since he moved out. My dad's a little different though.” Morty said shrugging, taking a sip out of his coffee. 

Morty had a bit of time between classes because one of his classes had gotten canceled for some reason. A reason that he hadn’t told Rick. So Rick had walked down to the coffee shop that was near the college. 

“My dad has always kind of been different from the rest of us. Both I and my sister get most stuff from my Mom’s side of the family, other than looks.” Morty said pausing for a moment,  clearly holding something back but Rick didn’t ask what it was. It didn't seem that important. “That means that he kind of sticks out.” 

“In what ways?” Rick asked.

“Well, there is the fact that my dad's unemployed. And didn't go to college,” Morty said. Rick laughed in his head, not wanting to break the moment by  just laughing at the other’s dumbass father. “But it’s not  really his fault.” 

“Why’s that?” Rick questioned, raising an eyebrow. He always hated that excuse for others about why they didn’t go into higher education. 

“My dad has some learning disability, something that I got from him,” Morty said, saying his words  slowly , almost as if he thought that the slower that he said them the less true that they would be . 

“Well  clearly you got through it, he could too,” Rick said rolling his eyes, motioning at the other.

“Yeah, but I had to  really work at it to get past it. It took a lot out of me and I had to do nothing other than work at it to get past it. I did almost nothing else other than studying.” Morty said sighing, looking down at the table. “My dad doesn’t have that resolve.” 

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter now. You’re  clearly doing all you can to come above that and it’s rather honorable.” Rick said, shrugging. 

“I guess,” Morty said, looking down at his phone as he did every few minutes before standing up. “I should get back to school. I’ll see you later?” 

“Yep, we’ll be able to see each other a lot when you have off,” Rick said, wiggling his eyebrows making the other laugh. 

“Yeah no. We’ll be at my family’s house and you aren’t exactly quiet.” Morty said, before heading off.

Rick rolled his eyes, waiting for a moment before heading off as well.  He walked  slowly back to the apartment, debating calling up Birdperson for something to help him out . It was surprising how many odd drugs the half-bird could get his hands(?) on. 

But he shook the thought off. He hadn’t talked to Birdperson for a while and he didn’t want their first conversation in a while to be about drugs. He may be a terrible person but hey, people could change right? 

Could he? Had he actually changed these past months?

Of course, I have, he thought to himself, I’ve gone to AA, something that I would have never gone to before. 

He then tried to think of any other way that he had changed other than no longer drinking (as much). He stopped in front of his door when he realized that that was kind of it. He hadn’t changed in any other way.

He tried his damndest, trying to find some way that he had changed. Some way that he wasn’t like himself from a few months ago. Other than the addictions. 

Almost a year had passed since he had come back to earth and he was still the same. The only things were that he wasn’t drinking and Morty. And even then he couldn’t  really count Morty as it wasn’t like Rick had chosen who the other was or anything. He couldn’t make a new human. Yet. 

He groaned, pressing his head to his door. He then jumped, hurrying inside, wondering if anyone had seen his breakdown. 

Whatever he thought, what does it matter that I haven’t changed? It’s not like it actually matters that much. The only person who he knew before he had taken off and was currently on the planet was Beth, his daughter. Who he was  actively avoiding currently.

He should  probably look her up so that he at least knows where she is.  Maybe he’ll actually try to find her and reunite with her if he knew where she was. 

Or he could better avoid her instead. 

‘I’m a terrible father.’ He thought to himself as he collapsed on the bed. 

This was the first time in a while that he actually felt like a drink. Or more than that. 

Instead he groaned, picking himself off the bed and going to do something. It wasn’t like he wasn’t drinking  simply because of the fact that he had made so much progress or something like that. He had gotten to this point plenty of times and then broken that progress. 

But he couldn’t do that to Morty. 

It was odd that someone that he had only meet earlier that year had made him actually go to AA. No one else had made him do that. Not even  just because he had been up in space for a few decades. Space had plenty of places like AA. He  just hadn’t wanted to go.

But he felt like he’d known Morty for longer than a year. It sounded cheesy and like something that he would  normally gag at but it was  oddly true. It felt like he’d known Morty for longer than a year. He stopped where he had been making his way to his makeshift lab. 

He loved Morty. 

Well, that was a way that he had changed. Kind of. It wasn’t like he wasn’t capable of love, he had at one point loved Diane. But that love had fizzled out years ago, even before he left. But that had been so long ago at this point. 

He groaned to himself. Well, nothing he could do now other than distracting himself. It wasn’t like he could do anything with that information right now. All he could do was distract himself with anything other than Morty. Wait for when the two of them would be driving down to the other's family home. And be able to meet Morty's parents, even if the other's family didn't know anything about them. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the shorter chapters but I'm glad as I forgot about it until a few minutes ago. This meant that there wasn't much that I had to actually edit.

“You ready to go?” Morty asked.  The past few weeks had gone by  quickly with Rick distracting himself as much as possible and Morty with his exams . But the time had finally come for their 3-day road trip. To Morty’s parent's house. 

“Yep,” Rick said, dragging the one suitcase that he had decided to take with him behind him. He didn’t need much. 

The drive went by  quickly . Though the roads  were filled with others on their way to places for the holidays. He and Morty made small talk the whole time. 

As they drove, Rick  continually gripped the piece of paper in his hand. He had decided to actually look up where Beth was. Whether that was so that he could find her or avoid her, he hadn’t decided yet.

He hadn’t asked Morty where in the world they were going other than Seattle so he didn’t know how far Beth was from them. Which was a bad idea when he thought about it. Whether he was trying to avoid Beth or go find her he should have asked where they were going. But at this point, it wasn’t like he would be able to look up how far they are from each other, let alone let himself ask. 

He looked out the window after Morty told him that they were close, trying to see how much he remembered from when he himself lived here when Beth was young . 

‘Looks like we’re going to the same neighborhood that Beth lives in,’ He thought to himself as he crumpled the paper even more . ‘Gonna be hard to avoid her if that is my plan in the end.’

‘Somethings very wrong.’ Rick continued to think, as they got closer and closer to the address in his pocket.  He had memorized it at this point, having taken it out and read the address on it over and over whenever Morty wasn’t around . That way Morty wouldn't ask about it. 

As Morty pulled up to a house, slowing down and  eventually parking all Rick could think over and over was, ‘Oh fuck.’

“We’re here.”  Morty said, turning off the car and unbuckling himself before looking over at Rick, raising an eyebrow, “Are you okay ? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine,” Rick said, not knowing what to say other than that. He could be wrong and this is all a big misunderstanding. 

“Cool then. We can  just leave our stuff here and come back for it later.” Morty said shrugging, getting out of the car. Rick took a breath before heading towards the door where Morty was already going. 

“We’re here,” Morty said, entering the house. Rick looked around the front entrance not seeing any pictures of the family.  This meant that Rick could be in his fantasy that all this was a misunderstanding for a moment longer before Morty’s mom exited the dinning room, having come from the kitchen by the wine glass in her hand . 

“Mom this is my fri-” Morty started before getting interrupted by his mom.

“Dad?” She asked, said glass falling to the ground. 

Shit.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my twitter yall @crypticsmut


End file.
